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It is 15x7x.7cm and weighs 144grams. The viewable screen is 12.7x6.5cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 5.6inches. The display is 2220x1080. The pixel per inch ratio is rather good at 441.
It has 64GB storage.
Firstly Google Stadia will be coming to the Pixel 3a later this year so those into gaming will be able to stream to this device.
This is a mid range phone that has pretentions to be like its bigger and more expensive cousins. As far as I know this is the first mid range offering from Google.
Active edge means that the sides can be used to do things that would otherwise require more than a single touch. One of the few things that give this away as something not top end is that the rear of the unit is plastic and not glass, but it is predominately matt so will not show finger marks. The top 3cm is shiny with the rather nice camera 1cm down and 1cm in from the left with the LED flash 2.5cm in from the left edge. The finger print reader is 3.5cm down from the top and therefore in the matt area.
Going around the rest has the on/off button and the volume rocker on the right side, the base has USB ‘C’ for charging and OTG with the speaker. The left side has SIM entry point. The top has pin hole microphone and 3.5mm socket for headphones.
The images and video taken by the 12.2MP rear camera were rather good with only the occasional image a little over saturated. I was impressed with night shots but to get them you do need to hold the unit very still.
The front selfie camera is 8MP and also took good images. Bootup is only ten seconds and shutdown two seconds.
The units battery is 3000mAh and because of the smaller screen it will always be enough to keep even the longest day usage even including viewing videos.
I found a full charge via USB wall socket was less than two hours but for those wanting wireless charging it’s not an option here.
You get Android 9 and a Snapdragon 670 chipset the latter another reminder that this is a mid range offering.
But before you think this is a problem I did not find any noticeable lag and because it’s a Google phone you will get Android Q sooner than with most other phone makes.
It feels far more like a premium phone than other such units and for what it’s worth I liked it.
My one moan – there has to be one – is that when typing emails the keyboard is that bit smaller so a few more typos than normal but predictive text normally solved those minor gripes.
This unit was sent to me by Vodafone who do £0 upfront and £28 a month with 5GB of data and unlimited calls and texts, other deals are available.
https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/phones/pay-monthly-contracts/google/pixel-3a
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